Archipelago chief confident on merger with NYSE

Gerald Putnam, CEO of Archipelago Holdings, said today he doubted any competing bid for the New York Stock Exchange would derail the merger agreement between his firm and the Big Board, which was announced on April 20.

Mr. Putnam told a securities market conference at Baruch College, New York, that the deal to create NYSE Group Inc., a publicly traded company that will be 70% owned by current NYSE members and 30% owned by Archipelago shareholders, was fair and would not be renegotiated.

"It was aggressively negotiated, and I don't think there's any reason to recut it," he said.

A potential bid for the NYSE by a group of investors led by former NYSE Director Kenneth Langone only interfered with plans that Mr. Putnam and NYSE CEO John Thain had to meet with major Wall Street firms, but it had not changed those plans, Mr. Putnam said.

Mr. Putnam added that he expected Archipelago's proposed acquisition of the Pacific Stock Exchange to be completed this summer.